Dalian New Shipyard delivers KOTA LOCENG (4,250 teu) to PIL

Pacific International Lines (PIL) has received the KOTA LOCENG, the third of four ships of 4,250 teu which the Singapore-based carrier ordered at China’s Dalian New Shipyard in February 2011 for a reported price of USD 47 million apiece.

The KOTA LOCENG follows the KOTA LIHAT delivered in June. The new ship will soon phase into PIL’s standalone ‘SWS’ Far East to West Africa service, where it will replace the 3.081 teu KOTA KAMIL. On the ‘SWS’ service, which is otherwise operated with ships of about 2,800 teu, the KOTA LOCENG will be the by far largest vessel.

Between 2006 and 2010, Pacific International Lines already received a total of 13 more or less identical panamax-beam 4,250 teu ships from Dalian, all of which carry names that begin with L after the KOTA (meaning ‘City’) prefix.

While the present vessels are believed to be comparable to the 13 earlier ships, units of this later series are likely to feature a number of modifications that make them more suited for slow steaming. Detailed technical parameters of the 266m long ships have not been revealed yet.

It is worth noting that, unlike many other carriers that have ordered ships in this size range, PIL has not opted for a baby-over panamax design but ordered 13-row wide ships. This is of particular interest since the PIL Group owns a quartet of smaller (3,560 teu) baby-overpanamax ships, which it chartered out to Hanjin directly from delivery.